Why I Became a Prepper
Where’d It All Begin
Becoming a Prepper was always in my genes. Many of you know how I’ve been raised. Hunting Dad, typical stay at home mom who did a lot of canning and cooked everything from scratch. And although those things had influences on me, they didn’t influence me enough to choose the Prepping Lifestyle. They prepared me for one, but they were not the reason for it. Although my parents would never have called themselves Preppers, Preppers is exactly what they were.
I remember one time bringing up the subject of war on our soil. I was young, maybe 10 at the most. I’ll never forget the words my dad said to me, “We’re too far away, they can never touch us here!” I guess 28 years ago that would be the truth. But just as we have advanced in certain areas, so have the terrorists and they have brought war to our land.
I can remember 9/11 as clear as anyone else besides the victims families that day. Our country was under siege or else I thought it was and I was petrified. So petrified that I made every single one of us (there were 4 of us at the time) sleep together in the living room. I thought for sure that the terrorists or government was going to come and force us out of our homes. We had no protection and our Golden Retriever would have licked anyone to death rather than bite them. It would be days before I’d sleep right. We were only 2 hours from NYC at the time, 2 hours too close.
After 9/11 I stuck my head in the sand. I refused to believe that another 9/11 attack was even possible. I told myself that those terrorists that day just got lucky and I convinced myself that the government would protect us. My husband became a news junkie and I spent hours surfing the net, taking care of the kids or talking to my mom on the phone. I did everything I could to avoid the news. It was depressing and frankly it was terrifying.
Becoming A Prepper
But somewhere between 2001 and 2015 things seem to click in my brain. I found myself reading a lot more on politics and started to form opinions, and when these opinions were expressed ,I found I was not alone. And one of those people who totally agreed with me was my husband. Mr. Prepper had been having these thoughts for a long time but he didn’t know how to approach the subject with me because he knew how scared I was after 9/11. I began to educate myself more on the matter at hand, stuck my head into politics, prepping and making connections with people who knew a heck of a lot more than I did. I started blogging, started a Facebook Page all about prepping and have created a nice little circle of like-minded people. I started collecting supplies that we’d need if the SHTF. I started canning and have a nice little supply of food. It’s not anywhere near enough, but we’ll get there. I now have an EDC bag and soon will have a BOB bag. I intend to combine the EDC and BOB together so I always have my bug-out-bag with me. With my luck, the SHTF will happen when I’m on my way from work to pick up my son and I may not be able to make it back home. I don’t want to be stuck with nothing to help me survive.
I am by no means an expert. There are so many other people out there more experienced than I am, and I read their blogs and materials just like you read mine. It’s an outlet to learn.
Prepping
So back to the subject at hand. Why did I become a prepper? Well the simple answer is I don’t want to see my family suffer in any situation. I want to be ready if something happens, whether it’s a natural disaster or a full-blown war, so my family won’t starve, that we will be able to treat medical issues. I want my family to feel safe even in the midst of a disaster, and if we just prepare enough I know we can alleviate some of the resulting fears. Sure they are going to be scared, we all will be scared, but how we help our children cope with that fear is what matters.
There’s so much time and effort that goes into prepping that I believe somewhere in it all my children will see a glimmer of hope and they will hold on to it.
My Children
So that’s why I prep. I prep because I don’t want my children to suffer anymore than what they may have to. If I keep my head in the sand and pretend that nothing in this world is going to harm me then I myself am harming them. If I am so naive as to believe the government is going to take care of me during any disaster, all I need to do is take one look at Katrina to see the government is not going to do anything to ensure our safety. Look at what is happening today. The evidence is so solid that terrorists are in our country and killing our people and our government does nothing to stop it. They open our borders and let people in and they have no idea if that one person they let through the border is going to blow us up! It’s not paranoia that fuels me, it is keeping my children safe which is fueling me.
Just as any parent, I would do anything to protect my kids. Even if that means stocking supplies, including food, water, first aid products, etc., and learning new skills to keep him/her safe and out of harms way!
Thank you for reading! As always please feel free to subscribe and have a wonderful day!
Becca
